all about flying drones

My Racing Drone Collided

I had been flying drones
for nearly a year. It started as my new favorite hobby, something
nice to do on the weekends. But soon enough it became so much more
than that. Because some of my friends also started flying drones,
then, I got introduced to a whole new social circle of people
passionate about drones.

This resulted in an
interesting new set of activities for me. My regular flights became
much more interesting, and now I had company. I became more
ambitious, and I got opportunities to fly my drone in exciting new
places. I also started making better use of the video camera on my
drone, the pictures, and the videos were simply fantastical, it was
unbelievable the things you could get done with a drone.

There was a particular
activity that also stood up to me: drone racing. It was a whole new
world and a very exciting one at that. I started with the typical
local, amateur races. I visited local parks on the weekends and
participated in every possible race I could ever find. Soon enough I
got so excited I found my way to signing up to more professional
races on real courses designed especially for drone racing, indoors
and outdoors, and school gymnasiums. I did all of it. And apparently,
I wasn’t particularly bad.

I managed to win a couple
of races, and it was impressive enough. I wanted to remain humble,
but I was certainly among the best ones in the city.

In consequence, I was
invited to a very important race. It was a full-on professional
tournament, organized by a real league of drone racing. I almost
couldn’t believe it. I even had to travel over two cities to reach
the place of the competition. It was crazy to see so many people
there. I mean, it was impressive on its own to see so many people
there ready to race. But I was also alarmed by the number of people
in public.

I loved the activity,
wholeheartedly, but I never expected to have so many people watching.
I was glad to have them, of course, but I was a little nervous, I was
very, very nervous. And that was an understatement.

Still, regardless of the
pressure and every little new thing about professional racing, I got
ready for the race. I lined up with all the other players, and we got
our drones prepared and silently, or not, hyped ourselves. My nerves
were getting the best of me but I couldn’t back down, not when I
was already on the line. The rules of the race were pretty simple,
each player uses FPV, or first-person view, to guide their drones
through the course and the first one to get to the finish line wins.
The details are not necessary for the story, but the emotions are a
completely different thing.

When the countdown begins
I’m so nervous that I stop feeling nervous, it’s like I can’t
take any more negative energy and I’m just left with excitement and
some chill moving through my spine. Still, my fingers itch, and when
the race starts, I start with all my might. My little drone is going
full speed, and I’m doing the best I possibly can. It’s so much
more fun than I had imagined. In the end, I realize that I love
racing, and the people around me love it as well. I can’t help but
let out a laugh at some point, and I’m genuinely enjoying the race.

But soon enough everything
becomes serious again. It is a professional race, and I’m racing
against professionals, I’m redundant for emphasis. These people
were there to win. Even if the cheers of the public made my hands
tremble slightly. Even if I was feeling an impulse to laugh, while
all the other competitors were incredibly serious, even if the race
was already getting tough, I had to watch a couple of drones get in
trouble. First, two drones that were leading the race found a way to
crash against each other lightly.

Thankfully, they didn’t
completely collide, and they didn’t end up falling. Both drones
managed to stabilize themselves and continue with the race, but they
inevitably lost their advantage, they were now in the middle, I even
managed to pass them.

Next, I got to witness a
drone knocking against one of the props, and then another one. They
crashed even though they looked confident and professional, and I
suppose because actually, I wasn’t paying much attention to them.
The first crash I didn’t even notice at first because it happened
behind me and I was flying on the first-person view. It was a race,
and I had no time to look back.

However, the second crash
happened almost right in front of me, just a few drones ahead. I
watched the little thing get too close to the props, trying to pass
the one in front. But then it was already too close, and it was
impossible for it to take the turn, so it crashed against the prop,
and I watched it stumble in the air and start to go down.

I had no time to dwell on
it, and I rapidly passed it. And I felt my heart beating impossibly
fast. I was so nervous, the crowd was so loud, and it looked like I
had a chance at reaching the first five competitors. But, well, life
isn’t perfect, it was my first race, too much pressure, and
nervousness… It happened in an instant, I was desperate to pass the
drone in front of me, I was trying to avoid the one behind me, and
then there came the props… I ended up crashing and going straight
to the ground.